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EXCLUSIVE: Trent O’Donnell is on a break from shooting an episode of Ghosts when he speaks to Deadline, joining the call as temperatures hit minus-18°C in Montreal where the U.S. version of the comedy is shot.
Sunny Nights, meanwhile, is set and was filmed in the warmer surroundings of Sydney, Australia. O’Donnell directs and exec produces. It follows Vicki (D’Arcy Carden) and Martin (Will Forte) as an American brother-sister team setting up a spray tan business in the city. An unseemly blackmail incident and a pressing need for cash mean, however, the siblings get entangled in the city’s murky underworld, setting up a series that is equal parts drama and comedy.
Having worked with Forte on No Activity and Carden on The Good Place, O’Donnell says he scrawled their names on the script right after reading it for the first time during lockdown. He put in calls and worked some back channels and managed to get both on board. “You couldn’t get me to Australia fast enough,” Carden tells Deadline. “It only took four years and a 15-hour flight.”
Four years was the time between her hearing about the show and it filming, but Carden kept the faith: “Ever since Trent told me about the show all the way back in 2020, I knew it would happen,” she says. “I read it and fell in love. The characters were so unique, and I had never gotten to play a character like Vicki.”
Forte’s inclusion helped swing it for her: “All this and getting the opportunity to work with a comedic hero like Will Forte, who is now my blood brother for life.”
Forte returns the compliment to co-star and director: “Trent put together this amazingly talented and super-friendly crew, and I got to work with D’Arcy who now is like family,” he says. “I had worked with Trent before, so I wasn’t surprised by how much fun I would have with him or how good the show would turn out.”
Sunny Nights was written by Ty Freer and Nick Keetch and is an original for Australian streamer Stan. It is produced by Australian indie Jungle, in which O’Donnell is a partner, and Echo Lake Entertainment.
The series treads a line between comedy and drama. O’Donnell had to dial different elements up or down accordingly.
“I wanted more than anything for this to be a story where people were invested in the characters and thought of them as real people,” he says. “I had to keep an eye on what was going to stay true to the story. What makes these people feel real, and when am I just enjoying comedy bits.”
O’Donnell helmed and EP’d Colin From Accounts and that show’s star and co-creator Patrick Brammall turns in a cameo appearance in Sunny Nights. “It’s a prerequisite that I put him in everything I do,” O’Donnell says with a grin. “He literally flew in from LA and did his part on Sunny the same day.”
Other notable casting casting includes Willie Mason as a former sports star turned heavy. It was the ex-rugby league international’s first acting gig. The Sunny Nights team actually had Mason on a pre-production mood board, O’Donnell says, as they looked for “a kind of enormous person, with enormous arms and enormous hands, the sort of person that looks like if they punched you, it would really, really hurt.”
As with Carden and Forte, O’Donnell went direct. “I got his number and texted him cold and was basically like: ‘I’m making a TV show. Have you ever thought about acting?’ From the moment he said yes, he was incredibly dedicated. I think he started acting lessons the following day.”
From Australia To The U.S. And Back
O’Donnell reflects on the difference between making shows in his native Australia and the U.S. where he now spends a lot of time.
“When you get to an American network show there’s such a safety net and an infrastructure. Everyone is so seasoned and the crews are just bigger. There’s more money, the production just has more things.
“If I’m shooting in Australia it’s pretty much a 24-7 job, it’s all hands on deck. You also get that lovely sort of indie movie vibe, there is a lot of freedom with it as well.”
With the series in the can, how does the director feel before it premieres on Stan and launches internationally? “I’m happy just to push it off a cliff into the world and then see who picks it up and enjoys it.”
Cineflix Rights is across that part. It is distributing and the series is a priority at its London Screenings event later today.
